Not just iPhone, Huawei’s counter-event and the (silent) war on Apple

It’s open war between the United States and China on supremacy in the telecommunications sector and in the artificial intelligence sector, which reflects the relations between Washington and Beijing are still tense. Just a few hours after the iPhone 16 presentation on the part of the American Applethe Chinese rival Huawei he held his big event and presented one triple screen smartphone which, like the new iPhones, incorporates artificial intelligence. A $2,880 gem whose price and features have been revealed.

Mate XT or iPhone 16?

The Mate XT it’s a smartphone triple screen (trifold)a technology that Apple is not yet riding. But like the new iPhones, the Mate XT will incorporate some functionality that are based on artificial intelligencesuch as text translation and cloud-based content generation. The Mate XT’s screen will have a Z-fold and, when closed, will have a 6.4-inch display.

Huawei’s new smartphone It won’t be cheapwill have a base cost of $2,800 ranging up to $3,300 depending on memory, more expensive than the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which will start at $1,199, and the base iPhone 16 at $799.

Apple also unveiled the new A18 chip for its new smartphones, which uses highly advanced 3-nanometer technology, making the iPhone 16 much faster than the iPhone 12. Huawei, on the other hand, did not reveal any chip during the launch of the Mate XT.

Orders are already flowing

The Chinese company’s phone will formally launch pre-orders on Saturday and in-store sales from September 20ththe same day Apple’s new iPhone 16 series launches in stores, including in China.

But Huawei has already revealed that more than 3.5 million people had already requested the Mate XT smartphone on its website and, after the launch eventthe number of people affected has risen to 4 million.

A revenge after the ban in Washington

“We spent five years fighting to achieve this goal,” said Richard Yu, Huawei’s executive director and chairman of the board, alluding to the tensions that have characterized US-China relations in the technology sector in the past and noting that the company “did not give up despite four rounds of sanctions”.

The Chinese company is trying to relaunch itself in the smartphone sector, after having been hit hard by sanctions imposed by the United States in the aftermath of Washington’s October 2022 imposition broader restrictions on sales of advanced chips to Chinese companies by American manufacturers. Since last year, with the launch of the Mate 60 Pro, Huawei has been using a chip made in China by SMIC.

Meanwhile, according to consultancy firm Canalys, Apple has dropped out of the list of top five smartphone vendors in China in the second quarter of this year. It is the first time that all five positions in China have been occupied by domestic manufacturers and Huawei is only in fourth place in market share with 10.6 million smartphones sold.